As a child, no one would have picked Benjamin “Benny” Sousa as a future millionaire.

He had dropped out of school by the age of 10 and was packing shelves in a grocery store; he couldn’t read very well.

“I refused to go to school because the children teased me so much about my stutter,” Mr Sousa, 92, said. “I learnt to fight in the schoolyard.”

At 17 he was conscripted into the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps. He later transferred into the Royal Army Service Corps, the British military department charged with transportation.

“They needed drivers and I had a licence,” he said. “I was a driver. That was my first experience with cars. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed the army, but I learnt a lot from it.”

In the BVRC he befriended Norman Moniz, who bunked next to him in the barracks.

“We played golf and lifted weights together,” Mr Sousa said. “I asked him for help with reading, and Norman supplied the books.

“Most of the guys would drink or gamble during their spare time. If the lights went out they’d gamble by candlelight. Norman and I weren’t like that so Norman spent his free time teaching me to read.”

His life was never the same.

“I continued to read and learn, and became a Corporal,” he said. “Later, it enabled me to run my own businesses.”

He was released from service in 1946; someone asked what his plans were.

“I said I wanted to make a million dollars and I wanted to own my own building,” he said.

He was able to achieve one of his goals quickly.

“During my service, the Royal Army Service Corps gave me money for meals,” he said. “But I still went back to the barracks to eat for free, and saved the money. I built my first house when I came out, with every cent paid for.”

He used his wartime experience with vehicles to sell some of the first private cars on the Island.

He eventually made a million dollars through various business ventures including Spicelands Riding Centre, Riddell’s Bay Gas Station and Riddell’s Bay Golf and Country Club.

“The Riddell’s Bay property was called the Smithfield Hotel, but I didn’t run it as a hotel,” he said. “I turned it into the Riddell’s Bay Boat Club.”

He built the docks there and rented out Sunfish for sailing. One of his patrons was the future US President John F. Kennedy, who was on vacation with his family.

“It was 1953 and he was still a senator,” Mr Sousa said. “He was a very nice man.”

Mr Sousa’s passion was horses. His father, Benjamin Sr, ran a livery on Burnt House Hill in Warwick.

“My earliest memories are of horses,” he said. “I could probably ride before I could walk, although I don’t remember.”

In the 1940s he was a harness racer at the old Shelly Bay racetrack.

“I had a big grey horse from West Virgina called Blue Canyon,” he said. “That was one of the finest horses that ever came to Bermuda. I also had a horse called Lucky Go Eden.

“I was too big for a jockey, but I won a lot of races. I trained a bit in the United States.”

He met his second wife, Linda, when he opened what is now called Spicelands Riding Centre. She was an instructor there.

“She was from England and I remember the first day she came to Bermuda,” he said. “She was a very good rider.”

They have been married for 42 years.

Mr Sousa, who is now bedridden and in poor health, “never thought [he] would live to be 92”.

“I always thought I’d probably just live into my 50s and 60s,” he said. “I guess I’ve lived so long because I’ve worked hard all my life. I’ve never smoked or drank. I had my first drink when I was 32, otherwise, I never touched the stuff.”

He had six children — Frances, Terry, Jackie, Mark, Philip and Stephen, who is now deceased. He also has six grandchildren.

“In my life, I am probably most proud that all of my children had a university education,” Mr Sousa said.